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DRAGON MODELS LIMITED
6288, 2cm FlaK38 mit Sd.Ah.51. 1/35th-scale injection molded styrene/multimedia kit. Contains: 147 styrene parts, 58 photo-etched brass parts (including five that have been pre-formed), eight decal marking schemes and eight pages of instructions in 10 steps.
As many of you are no doubt aware, this is not the first kit of a 2cm FlaK38 issued in 1/35th-scale. It’s not even the first one of the new millennium. But, simply stated, it is the best one ever in this scale.
As DML has done with all of their newest releases, they have used various media, in various places, to drastically improve the detail and scale accuracy of a given kits parts. For this kit, they have provided etched brass gun shields in multiple parts. The neat thing about them is that they are pre-shaped and include bolt and rivet details on the outer faces. For the inner faces, there are separate parts for hinges and brackets. The same goes for the gunner’s auxiliary shields. Of course, there are also full styrene alternatives (with beveled edges for scale appearance) for use by those who may feel intimidated by working with etched brass. Another nice touch is that there are etched brass screens to depict the mesh that was mounted on many guns to catch spent shell cases. In reality they were stretched over frames, so DML has already pre-shaped the relevant parts to make assembly quite easy. Not bad, eh?
There are other bits of brass to detail the remainder of the kit. These include parts for the gun as well as the turntable.
The remaining parts for the entire gun, cradle, turntable and Sd.Ah.51 trailer are molded in conventional styrene plastic. Of course, DML uses slide-molds where appropriate for such things as the gun tube. This allows the flash suppressor to be molded with an open bore as well as the appropriate holes and slots. Properly cleaned and painted, this will easily rival a comparable turned metal/laser-cut item. To this is added one of three different types of receiver covers so that the modeler can depict slightly different production variations. There are choices of etched brass or styrene parts to depict the shell ejector port on the gun’s side.
The turntable can be constructed to allow the gun to rotate 360-degrees in azimuth. The gun cannot freely elevate as that would have compromised scale accuracy. DML’s designers instead provided tailored parts that will allow for four positions of the gun tube. They are zero-degrees, 20-degrees, 40-degrees and 60-degrees of elevation. When the modeler gets to this stage in construction, be sure to follow the instructions carefully so the proper parts are used. Also note that the seam around the edge of part A71 belongs there, since the prototype item was welded together at that point. It will require some finesse during clean-up since the sprue gates are attached to the seam itself. Handle with care!
The Sd.Ah.51 trailer can be depicted with the gun attached (it can be easily removed) and with the “landing gear” either deployed or retracted. It is nicely detailed and includes separate handles, a tool locker that can be shown opened or closed, racks for ammunition magazine containers and nicely done wheel/tire assemblies. These last also include the tiny air inflation valves.
There are some nice accessories included such as a pair of spare gun tubes in their opened carrying case, separate spare 20-round ammunition magazines (slide-molded for maximum detail on all faces) and two slide-molded ammunition magazine carrying boxes, with magazine inserts if depicted opened. There are no spent shell cases to for the shell catching screens, but appropriate brass rod can easily be cut to length for that purpose. What’s most unusual is the lack of a gun crew although they are shown on the box art, with the clear admonition that they are not included in the kit. Perhaps DML may come up with a “Gen2” set sometime in the future, although my copy of their brand-new 2006 catalog gives no hint of such an occurrence.
I have no specific plans depicting the gun in its entirety, only those seen in the Jentz/Doyle title on Flakpanzer in the Panzer Tracts series. The parts in the DML kit match the profile of the gun mounted on an Sd.Kfz.10. In particular, the proportions and length of the gun tube and its receiver match perfectly. There has been some comment that there are proportion/length problems in this area, but Doyle’s plans show that DML has apparently got it right.
The instructions are busy, but clearly drawn. For a tiny model there are lots of parts, some of which are either tiny or simply delicate. Proceed with caution. There are eight color/markings schemes given. They depict Heer, Luftwaffe and Waffen-SS units in every major scheme seen on these guns from about 1940 through the war’s end. The markings include data placards, gun tube “kill rings” and “kill silhouettes” for the shields. They are typical Cartograf quality, meaning that they are excellent.
While one can argue the relative merits of the idea of bringing out yet another kit of this ubiquitous FlaK gun, what is apparent is that this is an excellent kit. Love it for what it is.
Highly recommended.
Frank V. De Sisto
Reviewer’s note: Since May of 2005, I have been working on books for Concord Publications, a sister company to DML. The reader may wish to take this into consideration. For my part, I will attempt to maintain an objective viewpoint when writing these reviews.
DML kits are available from retail and mail order shops. For details see their web site at: www.dragonmodelsltd.com.
